A simple guide to drafting bios for the social web

Sometimes ago, I got a Direct Message on twitter that looks similar to the one below:

…do you know any great developer in Lagos?

I thought about who I could recommend but I was just blank despite tons of developers around me. After few minutes of deep thinking, I remembered someone whose bio reads:

I’m a software engineer, a philosopher, and also an activist. I’m a very interesting person to meet also.

The first part was all I needed. Then my recommendation went his direction. You see, it’s funny that I can recommend a twitter follower I have never seen in real life. It felt strange at first but I quickly remembered this is the digital age. I may not have met him in the real world, but I’ve e-met him

An elevator bio, as short as it is, works wonders (permit my churchy language). In recent times, I have had to go through the bio of several people both on Twitter and Facebook and all I can do is shake my head. Here are some for your perusal:

“I am Me”

Working on it. Check back

“Jesus’ child”

“Why do you want to know? #FollowBack Team”

In my opinion, the bio section on all social avenues is the place to begin your Social Media journey. It’s just like meeting someone for the first time, the first thing I believe you want to know is “Who are you”, or “what do you do”, depending on the situation. The same applies on Social Media platforms, only that your profile speaks for you. You see, don’t just assume your friends know who you are. These days, tweets fly beyond your immediately followers via Retweets and posts go beyond your immediately self via likes, reshare and tagging. So, you never can tell who will click on your profile.

Among other things, you will have to master the art of writing a short bio (elevator pitch). Here are three quick ideas you can explore while drafting your bios:

Who are you?

What do you do?

What Have you done?

If you can provide the above in less 160 characters or less, you rock!